of the world, we have seen this show before. i saw it time and time again on the campaign trail. these people still voted for party first. maybe there will be a longer pause in this moment. it just feels very familiar, jake. david chalian, let me bring you in. in february, 2016, candidate trump refused to condemn david duke and white supremacists and the ku klux klan. i asked him three times on this show. so there are people who are not particularly surprised by what happened saturday and, in fact, i don t know many people when what happened saturday happened and we found out president trump is going to make a statement thought, oh, this is going to go well. i think that s probably a good point. i do think you are right. it is not surprising to watch
chose to become a nazi? what did you find so offensive and so objection babble the united states of america that you found nazi germany to be preferable? first off, i was never a member of the nazi party or anything like that. do you still think adolf hitler is the greatest genius in the world? i never said that. as a candidate in february of last year, donald trump refused to promptly condemn david duke after he endorsed his candidacy. i don t know anything about david duke. i don t know what you re even talking about while supremacy or white supremacists. you wouldn t want me to condemn a group that i know nothing about. nothing about david duke. well, he clearly knew who he was back this 2000 when trump specifically condemned duke as a racist and a bigot. watch this. what do you see as the biggest problem with the reform party right now? well, you ve got david duke
he when members come back to congress, this will be a difficult moment. we ve talked all along about trump s economic he angst. this racial narrative is metastasizing and it is not going away. it is going on in boston, richmond. here s an example with david duke. it always pomps up in the worst moments in history. as the president said today, david duke, the former grand wizard of the kkk was in attendance alongside the neo-nazis. but when he was trying to get elected as governor . let s see when tim russert tried to hold him accountable for his past statements on meet the press. what was about it this country, this society that you
ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. well president trump fanned the flames of controversy around the violence in charlottesville, virginia, once again where white nationalists and affiliated groups chanted nazi slogan. and one of those white nationalist marchers plowed into protesters. a day after singling out the kkk and other gait group, the president reverted to his original statement that multi time sides were to blame for that violence. during an unplanned session with sessions, he explained the condemning while adding those marching alongside them contained many fine people. there was no way of making that statement that early. i had to see the facts, unlike a lot of reporters unlike a lot of reporters. i didn t know david duke was there. i had to see the facts.
when the president says he didn t know david duke was there. but then we see david duke moments on twitter saying thank you, president trump, for your honesty and courage to tell the truth about charlottesville and condemn the leftist terrorists and black lives matter and antifa. my thought, if the president wants to play dumb around the david duke issue, that s one thing. but when he says he doesn t know he was there and david duke clearly knows who president trump is, at this point, how long does that narrative remain something we can entertain and not flat out laugh at and reject? guy: there is a lot to unpack and what we just watched from the president. i ve been scrolling through twitter and sing reaction. some in the press are reaching for the smelling salts over everything he said. i think there were some points he made that were legitimate and defensible. where he really lost me was when he was saying and objecting, saying there were some fine people in that protest in char